Louvered walls have long been used to enclose outdoor spaces occupied by humans to provide privacy and to permit the flow of air to and from the spaces. Such walls are particularly desirable around relatively small enclosed spaces, such as those containing patios or swimming pools, for which a solid wall would produce uncomfortable, confining feelings in the occupants of the space.
Of course, it is common to fabricate a louvered wall from lumber. Such structures are expensive because of the complexity of fabrication and the cost of raw materials. There is the further problem of maintenance of outdoor wood structures. They must be painted or otherwise treated periodically to prevent deterioration.
Masonry block walls are relatively inexpensive. And it has been proposed to provide air passageways through the masonry blocks for ventilation purposes. See, for example U.S. Pat. No. 1,154,219 granted Sept., 21, 1919 to H. R. Straight for "Ventilated Building Structure" and U.S. Pat. No. 1,203,934 granted Nov. 3, 1916 to H. R. Straight for "Ventilated Building Block". Blocks constructed in accordance with the teachings of these patents offer only very restricted passageways for the flow of air therethrough. Hence, walls constructed of these blocks would afford very little air movement and comfort to the persons in spaces enclosed by those walls.
It has also been proposed to configure the upper and lower surfaces of cement building blocks in such a manner that a portion of each block projects into a corresponding region of the block next above. The blocks disclosed in the Straight '934 patent mentioned previously have this characteristic. See also U.S. Pat. No. 2,484,062 granted Oct. 11, 1949 to J. E. Abbott for "Concrete Block Building Wall". The interconnection of blocks which are so configured is known to stabilize the wall constructed therefrom. Applicant, however, has no knowledge of the blocks of the Abbott patent or the aforementioned Straight patents being used in combination with elongated louvers to construct a stabilized louvered wall.